Virtual machines have traditionally been provided for allowing at least one virtual system to operate within a single physical system. In general, each virtual machine utilizes a virtual disk for storing data, which may be partitioned from a physical disk of the physical system or a file located on the physical system file system. However, performing operations with respect to data accessed from the virtual disk has conventionally been limited.
For example, data stored on the virtual disk is usually accessible via an associated virtual machine, such that execution of the virtual machine has provided access to the data. Accordingly, performing operations with respect to the virtual disk data has customarily required execution of the virtual machine. There is thus a need for addressing these and for other issues associated with the prior art.